Peter Crouch and Rio Ferdinand feel Jose Mourinho needs to shake things up.
Pundits Rio Ferdinand and Peter Crouch have called for Jose Mourinho to change formation for the second leg of Tottenham’s Champions League last 16 clash against RB Leipzig.
Spurs go into that clash 1-0 down from last night’s first leg and on BT Sport, via the Daily Mail, the former England internationals called on Mourinho to shake things up.
Crouch said: “‘Leipzig could’ve been out of sight in the first half. There was a slight improvement from spurs but they were never in it. The back three were quite comfortable and Leipzig seemed happy to take their 1-0. There needs to be big changes for the second leg.”
Ferdinand added: “In the midfield they need three, or else they’ll get outnumbered week in week out. Better players with better strikers will crucify you.”
Mourinho will argue that he has the players he has at his disposal because of injuries and little else besides. The Portuguese has not tended to find creative solutions – like say Pep Guardiola – to such problems.
He just picks what he can, gets the players to double down on their efforts and sees what they can do.
Last night, the switch to a three at the back late on worked so well that it was tempting to wonder what would have happened if that was the way Mourinho had started the match.
Either way, it needs a Mourinho masterclass for the second leg or Tottenham are out of the competition they went all the way to the final of last season.
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